Gujarat to host a huge IT Expo in September

Gujarat will host country’s largest industrial expo of the Information Technology sector in September this year, say industry sources. The expo will give a peak into the emerging sectors and will bring a galaxy of technology leaders from across the country and even abroad, claim organizers.

GESIA IT Association, that represents the companies in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Gujarat, aided by National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM), is organising three-day ‘Vibrant IT Summit’ beginning September 7 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. The move aims to replicate Gujarat’s achievements in the automobile sector in emerging areas of ICT. With Gujarat being a manufacturing hub, the offerings at the expo will provide next-generation technology that needs to be adopted by sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and petrochemicals and diamond among others, said Vivek Ogra, chairman of GESIA IT Association. “Gujarat cannot afford to miss the next wave in the IT sector. It has everything needed for the sector to grow, be it ready-made market, entrepreneurial ecosystem and a robust physical infrastructure. The industrial ecosystem in Gujarat is the obvious consumer for next-generation production technologies that will be on display,” Ogra said. The expo will also project Gujarat as an ideal alternative destination for IT companies that need to expand. “With a ready-made market and the value addition Gujarat provides, we want to make it inevitable for companies to come to Gujarat. If we can do it in automobiles, why not in IT,” said Ogra.

Close to 450 stalls would be put on an exhibition area of over 20,000 square metre, which is higher than the area of previous IT Expos at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi and CeBIT in Bengaluru. Alliance with NASSCOM will ensure that close to 40 experts across various emerging sectors will share their insights in the next generation technologies. Creation of a high powered advisory panel for the expo is under process.The expo is the first in the series of 10 annual expos GESIA has lined up for the next decade. “If you want to get noticed, you need to do something really big and in a sustained manner. Through the expo, we also plan to make Gujarat a global hub for the expo in IT sector,” said Tejinder Oberoi, secretary and director of GESIA. Organizers say that hosts need not be leaders in the sector to be hubs for an expo in sectors related to IT.